Course 3: Advanced

Course 3: Advanced

Programme Overview

The Injection Moulding Driver Licence® is a systematic and all-round training programme designed for the plastics injection moulding industry. There are 5 courses covering topics from material science, moulding machine, moulding process, periphery equipment and mould. From basic to expert levels, the courses progressively improve the participants’ injection moulding knowledge and raise their ability to diagnose and solve problems effectively.

Programme Benefits

Its main differentiating advantage compared to other training programs is that the awarded certificate is like a driver’s licence: it is given only after a student has passed the final examination, and not on the basis of attendance. Passing the examination proves that the student has understood the training and is able to transport the knowledge into the practice of injection moulding.

Students who pass the stringent Injection Moulding Driver Licence® examination will possess injection moulding expertise equivalent to their German counterparts and become an application engineer in the plastics industry.

Target Industry

Injection Moulding Industry

Prerequisite

Course 2: Intermediate

Course Content

General

Review the contents of Course 1 and 2, emphasizing on mould cavity pressure and clamping force, material plastication (screw rotation) and injection units. In addition, focusing on the homework of the practical trial in Course 2: Injection speed settings, Determination of the VP switch point, Determination of gate freeze point and technical discussion.

Material Science

Briefly discuss the characteristics and applications of thermosets, thermosetting elastomers, and thermoplastic elastomers. Furthermore, discuss how to manufacture these types of plastics along with their differences in processing conditions and material properties.

Moulding Machine

Based on the different characteristics of amorphous and semi-crystalline plastics, discuss how to properly set injection speed. Specifically, plasticizing settings, injection, mould and cooling design. Moreover, discuss the types of nozzles, check valves and special screw designs.

Moulding Process

Discussion on scientific moulding: how to achieve process stability and shot-to-shot consistency, balancing between cavities, and production quality consistency. This requires good monitoring and control of processing conditions, good filling control with rheological influence, an understanding of shear rate effects and its practical control, effective cooling design and cooling time, and the suitable operation condition practical range.

Periphery Equipment

To ensure product quality consistency and production fluency, we discuss how to properly dry and convey materials. For this, we will learn about the various types of drying systems and raw material conveying equipment. This is followed by exploring the principles and challenges of mould temperature control, in particular achieving consistency in cooling by controlling the coolant quality. The cooling system’s quality is maintained by the collaboration of temperature sensor and chiller settings.

Mould

In order to achieve process stability, a well-designed mould system is needed. The characteristics and lifespans of different mould steel types are discussed. We then focus on the injection feeding system including various types of gates and their designs. Valve gate-controlled hot runners, including distribution plate and multi-cavity systems, are discussed. We also study cooling systems and achieving temperature control with advanced laser sintering systems and conformal cooling channels. The mechanisms and movements of the ejection system are discussed. In-mould sensor system and pressure response is explored to learn more about optimizing the process settings. The fast mould exchange technique is also discussed.

Special Technology

We explore tandem mould technology to discuss its injection system and mould base assembly. Furthermore, the micro injection moulding system, specifically its principle and applications; are also discussed.

Moulding Defects

Discussion on at least 20 questions covering eight different types of moulding defects.

Students integrate what they have learnt in Course 1 to 3; the five elements and product quality points, to achieve process stability. The defects and respective remedial measures will be identified.